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Vol. 73/No. 38      October 5, 2009

 
Washington conducts strike
against Islamists in Somalia
(front page)
 
BY BEN JOYCE  
U.S. special forces attacked two vehicles in Somalia September 14, killing six leaders of al-Shabab, an armed Islamist group contending for power there. The strike was part of Washington’s efforts to impose more control over the unstable Horn of Africa.

Among those killed was Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a key figure in al-Shabab. Washington accuses him of playing a role in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, which killed 212 people, and organizing the 2002 suicide bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.

The strike was authorized by an executive order signed by President Barack Obama. Commandos flew in on at least four helicopters, according to villagers who were eyewitnesses, and used .50 caliber machine guns to take out the convoy.

The operation represented a tactical shift for the U.S. rulers’ military course in Somalia. In recent years operations like this have been carried out using cruise missiles and other weapons capable of striking from a distance, often resulting in many civilian deaths. “One American adviser,” the New York Times reported, “said the decision to use commandos and not long-range missiles in this case may reflect a shift by the Obama administration to go to greater lengths to avoid civilian deaths.”

The toilers of Somalia have been subjected to nearly two decades of civil war between competing bourgeois Islamist forces. After U.S.-backed dictator Siad Barre was overthrown in a 1991 coup, central authority in Somalia collapsed. Imperialist-fostered divisions based on clan rivalries have left the ruling class fragmented among six major clans, each vying for political influence.

The Somali Islamic Courts Council took power in June 2006, but fell to a U.S.-backed invasion by Ethiopian troops that December. A weak “transitional” imperialist-backed government has held Mogadishu, the country’s capital, ever since, but major sections of the country are controlled by rival clans.

There is currently a garrison force of 3,400 African Union (AU) troops stationed in Mogadishu, propping up the transitional government. On September 17, two vehicles rammed through the gate of the headquarters of the AU’s mission in Somalia, killing at least 21 people including the mission’s second in command. Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack.

The U.S. military supplies weapons to the Somali army and provides training and support to AU forces. Somalia’s strategic position in the Horn of Africa is of great interest to U.S. imperialism for military reasons and because it is an important trade route between Europe and Asia. As many as 21,000 ships pass through the area each year.

On August 21 Gen. William Ward, head of the U.S. military’s Africa Command (Africom), pledged support to the Somali government and the AU mission during a visit to Nairobi.

Africom was set up in late 2007 as part of a transformation of the U.S. military command structure. It is responsible for military affairs on the African continent, except for those pertaining to Egypt. The only African government that has publicly stated its willingness to host the Africom headquarters is that of Liberia. Thus the command remains based in Germany.
 
 
Related articles:
U.S. generals seek to shore up Afghan war
Imperialist armies seen as occupiers
U.S. shift on missile ‘shield’ aims at Iran
The real nuclear arms threat  
 
 
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